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Founded by Jack Harris in 1937, the Harris Ranch Beef Company (now operated by Jack Harris' son John) was originally a cotton and grain operation.[1]

The farm also operates an inn and restaurant, raises fruit and vegetable crops, and breeds thoroughbred horses.[1][2] Overall, the operation has more than 400 employees.[3] Approximately 14,000 acres (5,700 ha) are devoted to garlic, broccoli, pomegranates, and tomatoes, among 35 types of fruits and vegetables.[4]

At over 800 acres (320 ha) and with a population of over 100,000 cattle,[4] and hundreds harvested daily, the ranch is the largest on the West Coast. It is also among the largest (when including density) in the United States. A "vertically integrated" operation, it owns a fleet of trucks that take cattle from several ranches with which it deals, and does its own finishing, slaughtering, and packaging.[1]

The ranch supplies the hamburger meat for the In-N-Out Burger chain, and also distributes beef and prepared meals through grocery stores and restaurants nationwide.[1][3]

Harris Ranch was one of the first to build a brand around itself as a specialty niche product, and is credited as a forerunner of companies like Niman Ranch and Dakota Beef.[1]

The restaurant was targeted to local farmers when it opened in 1977, but later became popular as a halfway stop on the busy highway connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles.[7][8] A 153-room luxury inn was added in 1987.[4] The restaurant evolved into a "farm to fork" concept in the late 2000s, featuring not only beef but wine and other products made locally by the ranch.[1] As of 2008 the restaurant was the 57th busiest in the United States and sixth busiest in California based on gross receipts.[3]

The ranch is known to travelers for the "ripe, tangy odor of cow manure", described alternately as a "horrible stench"[9] and "a good, honest, American smell".[10] This smell inspired food writer Michael Pollan to conduct the research on factory farming that led to his sustainability book, The Omnivore's Dilemma.[9] The owner of Harris Ranch, in turn, threatened to withhold a $500,000 donation to California Polytechnic University if it sponsored a speech there by Pollan.[11] In reference to the large number of cattle processed at its facilities, some critics[12] have nicknamed the ranch "Cowschwitz",[9] comparing the slaughtering of cows to the slaughtering of Jews during the Holocaust at the Auschwitz concentration camp.[4][13][14] Animal behavior expert Temple Grandin described the nickname as a matter of public misperception, saying that the company "does a great job" of keeping its animals.[15]